ASTANA -- Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry says an investigation has been launched into the beating of a Kazakh diplomat in Tajikistan, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.

Ministry spokesman Asqar Abdrakhmanov told journalists today that diplomat Amir Zhanaev was attacked in Tajikistan's capital, Dushanbe, on April 10 while walking with his family in the city center.

The assailants were chanting nationalist slogans as they beat up Zhanaev.

Abdrakhmanov said the Kazakh Embassy in Dushanbe made an official statement expressing its concerns over the incident and urging Tajik officials to thoroughly investigate the case to preserve friendly relations between the two countries.

Zhanaev's condition is satisfactory and he has returned to work today.Read more in Kazakh here and in Russian here